GERMANY was the MOST advanced country during WWII!

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Ferocious

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2000
4,584
2
71
Goering's Luftwaffe got it's ass whipped so hard by the brits that Hitler turned away and aimed for the ruskies instead.

lol.
 

rahvin

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,475
1
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<<No Germany did not come close to have the atomic bombs.>>

Germany was 6months from an atomic weapon when Hitler abandoned the program. After repeated bombings (somewhere around 15) of the heavy water factories in Norway Hitler decided not to waste resources on the project. This was approximately 3 years before the manhattan project in the US began. Using german scientists shipped to siberia after the war the Soviets were able to design, impliment and test a nuclear weapon within two years of the end of the war. Do not underestimate how close Germany was to nuclear weapons. The germans also developed VX nerve agent during the war and produced 5000lbs of the stuff but never used it. The rest of the world didn't even KNOW what VX nerve agent was until the end of the war. (for reference, one drop of VX nerve agent released into the air has the ability to kill a LOT of people)

<<Why did the Germans lose the war>>

Because of Hitler. If he had left the war to his generals, we would all be speaking German. Have no doubt about that, Germany had the millitary power to take the world and had Hitler followed the advice of his generals they would have crushed Russia and England on schedule and under budget ;).

<If Germany lasted a bit longer, guess where those 2 atomic bombs were going to go instead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?>

Truth be told, Truman was unaware of the bomb or the manhattan project until a week before the first test bomb was dropped in Nevada. They weren't even sure it would work.
 

DABANSHEE

Banned
Dec 8, 1999
2,355
0
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Actually the jet engine was invented by a Brit, sir Frank Wittle, Also the first use of guided missles was done by the Russians.

However it was the Germans who developed these ideas to the point they were truelly practicle.

Did you know that in 42 Hitler had the choice of investing his Reichsmarks into revenge weapons (the V1, V2 &amp; V5, prototypse of which had the range to hit New York) or in defensive guided missles for knocking out bombers. Many experts beleive Hitler made a mixtake spending all his avaliable funds on 'revenge weapons' if they had invested the same funds in developing the guided missles of the Luftwaffe they could have blasted the bombers of RAF Bomber Command &amp; the US Army's 8th Air Force out of the sky by 1944.
 

glenn1

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
25,383
1,013
126
German technology was quite good, I think that needs to be granted. As well, the advances in military strategies developed in the time period (the most well-known of being the blitzkrieg), were extraordinarily effective. Acknowledging these 'accomplishments' needs to made entirely seperate of the attrocities which the Nazi regime commited, however. One can admire technical prowess without glorifying the purposes it was put towards.
 

Aquaman

Lifer
Dec 17, 1999
25,054
13
0
Another reason that the Brits won the Battle of Britain was because of the code breakers at Blechly Park (sp?). These code breakers (7000 people including 1000 women) helped break the german 'enigma' code machine. Which gave them much warning on where the Luftwaffe would attack. They also invented the first computer 'Colossus' (sp?). [I learned this on a very intersting documentary on the History Channel].

The Luftwaffe was pretty good but they lacked 'Heavy' bombers like the allies B-17 and Lancasters (which allowed for the distruption of the German war manufacturers). Also another problem was the lose of skilled fighter pilots (apperantly the Me-109 was a great plane but very hard to fly skillfully). Also Goering was an idiot when it came to the Luftwaffe.

Cheers,
Aquaman
 

Windogg

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
10,241
0
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Yes the Germans has some really neat toys but most of them came about because of Hitler's facination with &quot;wonder&quot; weapons. Their over allocation of resources to so many projects hurt the overall war effort. Think of all the industrial capacity used to build V1 and V2 that could have gone FW190s, 88MM ATGs, and Panthers. How many more ME262s could they have made if there was no HE162? The Allies were much more focused on improving existing technologies rather than look for a super weapons (Manhattan Project excluded). Most of them were &quot;mundane&quot; but actually contributed to shortening the war (Centimeter radar, proximity fuse, bazooka rocket, Leigh lights, automatic cam on ships, the Jeep, the Higgins boat, and many more). Lets not forget that the German Army was basically horse drawn and never had enough motorized vehicles of any type.

Yes the Axis powers would have eventually been overwhelmed anyway but think of all the waste and half-completed projects.

Windogg
 

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,158
59
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<<If the Luftwaffe was so superior, why did the British win the Battle of Britain? >>

The British were beaten. The Luftwaffe stopped the Battle of Britain based on bad intelligence, not because the British were beaten. The Germans won the actual battle, they just quit before it was completely over. At no point were the British winning.
I think it was more a case of fate intervening.

<<Why did the Germans lose the war, >>

Because Hitler was a moron, and not giving local control to your commanders on the scene doesn't work. Rommel could have crushed the Normandy invasion, but the German high command wouldn't release the tank squadrons that would have enabled him to do so, thus giving the Allies time to establish a beach head.

<< I think that the majority of the Allied forces had ideology on their side>>

Exactly.

I don't think German technology was superior. Which country developed the best airplanes? The best ships? The best electronics? USA. Germany certainly had an edge at first, since they had been feverishly working at building up their military for 10 years or so, while we had not.
Their command structure was their achilles' heel. If you put the USA's command structure into the German army back then, I believe they would have easily beaten Europe, Britain, and eventually Russia. (or at least they would've had sense enough not to mess with Russia)
 

Ferocious

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2000
4,584
2
71
The Luftwaffe's losses during BoB was about 3.5X that of the brits.

They got their ass spanked!
 

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,158
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<<The jet technology was pretty advanced for the time as well as their rocket technology.>>

Yes it was, but the USA had the first operational jet airplane.

<<One funny thing though, as advanced as they were, they never developed Ball Bearings>>

We flew many bombing missions against German ball bearing plants in an effort to slow up war production.

<<But I would think that a single atomic bomb was more powerful than all rockets and jetplanes produced by Germany. Don't you agree? >>

I don't. Not the bombs we produced back then. They were powerful, to be sure, but the damage caused by either of the two dropped in Japan wasn't any worse than some of the fire-bombing raids we flew. The fact that only one bomb caused the damage was most important.

<<The British Pilots kicked the Nazi's ass in the Battle of Britain a turning point in the war indeed>>

Read up on this battle. The British were losing the whole time. They were almost out of planes and pilots. The remaining pilots were walking zombies, due to exhaustion. Germany quit, due to bad intelligence. They thought the British were replacing the planes/pilots as fast as they shot them down, when in fact, the British were not.
The British were very courageous, heroic, etc. Most importantly, they got lucky, which is the only reason they won.

<<The Luftwaffe's losses during BoB was about 3.5X that of the brits.>>

That is because of Fighters shooting down Bombers. That will always be the case, which is why you build lots and lots of bombers. We most likely had a similar number in reverse for our daylight bombing of Germany when our B-17's and B-24's had no fighter cover. That number has no bearing on who was actually winning. The British were being whittled down to nothing, while the Lufwaffe was not.
 

chess9

Elite member
Apr 15, 2000
7,748
0
0
The Germans may have been &quot;advanced&quot;, whatever that means, but they proved themselves incredibly stupid. They overreached and underestimated their opposition. Furthermore, they have earned the undying enmity of billions of people for their atrocities agains the Jews, many Catholics, Poles, Armenians, Hungarians, and more.

Frankly, even today I cast a cold eye on anything German.
 

burnedout

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
6,249
2
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Frankly, even today I cast a cold eye on anything German

Not me. I was there for many years. Good people, beautiful countryside and so much to experience.

A really cool place to live and work. Not better than the good old USA, IMO. Still nice though.

Over half the population was born after WWII. The majority of those I spoke with, who were around during the war years, were just followers being led. Those who weren't around during the war had neither a clue nor any inclination in discussing the war.

This is not to state that terrible atrocities were not commited. Not by any means. Visited Dachau once. Horrible. Can't ignore it. The Holocaust was one of the most diabolical evils mankind ever imagined.

Had the opportunity to become acquainted many former soldiers, to include those formerly of the Waffen SS. Drank beer, ate food and listened to their &quot;war stories&quot; on numerous occasions. Quite interesting.

The most important point which came out of those tales was the fact the Allies had such tremendous assets. Many told me of the respect they had for US strategic and tactical air support, US artillery assets and fire support and the US logistics system of the period.

One former fighter pilot I knew - whose brother lives in Miami Beach - explained how frustrating it was to fly into and attack US bomber formations. On a particular mission, if he managed to penetrate the fighter cover, then he contended with the well armed formation itself resulting in mixed success. Mentioned that B-24s were easier to flame than B-17s. The old boy's name was Erwin. Good man. Became an engineer after the war.

The main theme I gathered from those who served on the Eastern Front, was that they really put forth more resources and commitment into stopping the Soviets than the Anglo-Americans. For a variety of reasons, they hated the Soviets. Many explained how logistics, climate and command blundering stopped them from taking Moscow and advancing further.

When comparing all combatants, Germany had superior combat systems in place at the beginning of the war. Their Infantry, Armored and Air Force units were much better trained and motived than the rest of the world. The Pentagon adopted and refined the Blitzkreig. However, as the war developed, attrition, critical strategic errors coupled with fighting against a superior enemy were the ultimate undoing of the old Wehrmacht.

Many lessons to be learned. Any way you explain it though, war still sucks.
 

SuperGroove

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 1999
3,347
1
0
The reason why Germany lost, was because they were stupid enough to fight a TWO front war. Also, they were unlucky SOBs. Every one of their large air raids on Britain were defeated due to the advent of radar.

However, they were VERY advanced, technology wise. The Me-262 was a prime example of this, however it was too late to make a difference. Also, having unreliable engines didn't help. How does a life span of 10hrs sound?

What's a P-52? Don't you mean a P-51? Also, not all P-51s are alike. It wasn't until the P-51C and P-51 that the Allison engines were replaced by packard merlin(british design)engines, the that the P-51 became reknowned. The P-51A,B,C were all without Canopies. The P-51D is what everyone thinks of when they think P-51. The epitome of the perfect fighter plane.

I don't think anyone in their right mind, negates the power of the Luftwaffe, and the advanced nature of Germany's military. They were a VERY strong advesary...just not right in the head:)

Also, Britain held their own against britain, as witnessed at the Battle of Britain. Their air force was just as good as any, just outnumbered. Their pilots were valiant, and to say that they were weak, would just be blasphemous, and disrespectful.

Oh yea, the Luftwaffe was good, but no where near as good as the Air Corps of the United States of America. Come on! P-47s shot down Me-262s! THE JUG! OF ALL PLANES!:)

Oh...the Luftwaffe didn't have the best bombers! How can you miss when you have the most medium and heavy bombers? Carpet bombing...Mmmmm.
 

rahvin

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,475
1
0
<<Yes it was, but the USA had the first operational jet airplane.>>

Incorrect, the germans had built three jet aircraft during WWII. They didn't have the fuel to fly them though, they were discovered after the war.

<<The Germans may have been &quot;advanced&quot;, whatever that means, but they proved themselves incredibly stupid.>>

Do not blame the loss of WWII on anyone but hitler. Had he not intervened and overode his generals a dozen times germany would have crushed russia, and rommel would have made D-day a failure (not to mention the generals wouldn't have allowed britain to evacuate 250,000 men in the battle for france).
 

Pastfinder

Platinum Member
Jul 2, 2000
2,352
0
0
Well, after reading the all of the posts I figured that I should throw my hat into the ring. Germany, at the start of WWII had without question the best army and air force in the world. The factor that destroyed Germany was Hitler. The German military leaders wanted to wait a few more years BEFORE invading Poland and the like. Admiral Doenizt (can't spell it off the top of my head) wanted AT LEAST 100 U-boats OPERATING in the Atlantic, not sitting in the pens being repaired. In addition to Hilter, Goerning was a total idiot. The guy was a morphine addict and many feel that Hitler left him in power because he felt sorry for him. The German Luftwaffe was good, without question, but they never established a system for the training and production of pilots and aircraft such as the USA. The German aircraft, like the Japanese, were designed around the the bliztkrig tactics of fast offensive assaults (Ju-87, Ju-88, ect.) The Me-109 was a good fighter, but not what I call a plane designed to fight defensively. The Germans failed to produce heavy bombers such as the B-17, Lancaster and B-24. The only four engine aircraft in the German inventory was the Condor, designed for anti-submarine and shipping patrols. The ME-262 Swallow was operational in 1942-43, except Hitler delayed deployment of it because he wanted it for bombing purposes. Hilter in general wanted to get back at all of those who pushed him around (Blame the Jewish, Blame capitalism for his failures with money, blame everyone for his crappy childhood). The V-1 and V-2, had more time been given, could have been turned against the USA or Moscow had Hitler made an attempt at further developing them. The Germans were succesful at launching V-2s from U-boats, I sh1t you not. Imagine New York waking up to the wail of air raid sirens. Why did the Germans not destroy the British and French armies at Dunkirk when he they had the perfect opportunity? Why did the Germans not wait for the Operation Barbarrossa when they had enough reserves? Logistics killed the German war effort from 1942 on. North Africa to the middle east and OIL could have been Germany's had more planning (Ju-88 transports) been considered. The ENIGMA, for those who learned everything about it in U-571, was used by ALL branches of the German military. Once the Allies cracked the system, they could make out the majority of all of the messages. U-boats used the ENIGMA with greater frequency because they coordinated their movements in correspondence with the enemy movements. Sorry to burst the grand intellect of one of the commentors, the Germans HAD ball bearings in their tanks, aircraft and pretty much all of their machinery. Ever hear of a place called Sweinfurt? The US Army Air Corp lost almost 200 bombers trying to destroy the ball bearing plants there. The Battle of Britain... I feel that the British won simply because they wanted it more, the human spirit can do amazing things when life and death are options. One last thing, the Germans might have had a highly sophisticated military, but how come they stuck to the Kar-98 when they had the MP-38 and other automatic weapons. The bolt action rifle was obsolete after about 1 year into WWII, but the Kar-98 was standard until the end.
 

Specialist

Banned
Oct 7, 2000
454
0
0
Pacfanweb: I agree on this!:D



<< <<The British Pilots kicked the Nazi's ass in the Battle of Britain a turning point in the war indeed>>

Read up on this battle. The British were losing the whole time. They were almost out of planes and pilots. The remaining pilots were walking zombies, due to exhaustion. Germany quit, due to bad intelligence. They thought the British were replacing the planes/pilots as fast as they shot them down, when in fact, the British were not.
The British were very courageous, heroic, etc. Most importantly, they got lucky, which is the only reason they won.

>>



true!
<<The Luftwaffe's losses during BoB was about 3.5X that of the brits.>>


<<
That is because of Fighters shooting down Bombers. That will always be the case, which is why you build lots and lots of bombers. We most likely had a similar number in reverse for our daylight bombing of Germany when our B-17's and B-24's had no fighter cover. That number has no bearing on who was actually winning. The British were being whittled down to nothing, while the Lufwaffe was not.
>>


true!


<< I don't think German technology was superior. >>



I FULLY DISAGREE!!! THEY WERE THE MOST ADVANCED IN INFANTRY TANKS AND AIRFIGHTS, AND U-BOOT TECHNOLGY RIGHT BEFORE THE END OF 1944


<< they were so weak...

the only thing they did was prolong the inevitable... they were so weak.

the only contribution was to to stay alive because of their distance from the rest of europe and the code breaking.

without the us, england was dead.
>>


I FULLY AGREE!!

Ravin I couldn't have said it better!


<< <<No Germany did not come close to have the atomic bombs.>>

Germany was 6months from an atomic weapon when Hitler abandoned the program. After repeated bombings (somewhere around 15) of the heavy water factories in Norway Hitler decided not to waste resources on the project. This was approximately 3 years before the manhattan project in the US began. Using german scientists shipped to siberia after the war the Soviets were able to design, impliment and test a nuclear weapon within two years of the end of the war. Do not underestimate how close Germany was to nuclear weapons. The germans also developed VX nerve agent during the war and produced 5000lbs of the stuff but never used it. The rest of the world didn't even KNOW what VX nerve agent was until the end of the war. (for reference, one drop of VX nerve agent released into the air has the ability to kill a LOT of people)

<<Why did the Germans lose the war>>

Because of Hitler. If he had left the war to his generals, we would all be speaking German. Have no doubt about that, Germany had the millitary power to take the world and had Hitler followed the advice of his generals they would have crushed Russia and England on schedule and under budget .

<If Germany lasted a bit longer, guess where those 2 atomic bombs were going to go instead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?>

Truth be told, Truman was unaware of the bomb or the manhattan project until a week before the first test bomb was dropped in Nevada. They weren't even sure it would work.

>>


[I fully agree and i couldn't have said it better myself!
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,847
6,382
126
To deny Germany's weapon technological superiority during WW2 is to deny the facts. Certainly towards the end of the war British and the Allies were catching up somewhat, but Germany was still ahead in other areas. Besides strategic blunders, the biggest problem Germany had was not technological. It was it's lack of production facilities. Not only did production have to be stopped on the atom bomb due to facilities being destroyed, but facilities vital to armored vehicles and aircraft manufacturing were also destroyed. If these facilities had not been destroyed, the outcome of WW2 could have been completely different.

Ideology had little to no affect on the outcome of the war. Although I'm glad that Nazi ideology lost.
 

atomicbomberman

Golden Member
Aug 23, 2000
1,408
0
0
lol, half of the modern warfare machine were first developed by Germany, in both WWI and WWII, theyr'e the first to do chemical warfare, the first to use Submarine, the first to use airplace for attack.

And don't get me started about WWII, the first to use modern armor carvlary, I mean.. they WROTE the first Armor Calvary Doctrine, the first to use Jet Fighter plane, the First to use Cruise Missle, and the first to employ many of our modern military tatics, and they would've been the first to use Nuclear Weapon too, if it's not because Hitler was a Jacka$$.

Hmm.. Cruise Missle + Nuclear Weapon.. that means they could be the first one to have ICBMs, Computers, and all them other stuff.

Just think.. the free world ended up having all these things because on one very very fvcked up man.

But yes, German are very very advance.
 

pr0d2

Senior member
Feb 4, 2000
516
0
0
You all just wait untill us Canadians invade the world!
ohhh boy yall better watch out

*pr0d loads up his BB/Pellet gun w/laser sight(pen) abd scope(Shotglass taped on)

 

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,158
59
91
<<<<Yes it was, but the USA had the first operational jet airplane.>>(pacfanweb)

<<Incorrect, the germans had built three jet aircraft during WWII. They didn't have the fuel to fly them though, they were discovered after the war.>>rahvin

Sorry, but the US most certainly flew jet aircraft first. In 1942, the Bell P-59 was flown out in the California desert. I believe the British also had a jet in service that was used to shoot down German rockets.
The ME-262 was the first jet to be used in combat, but not the first jet ever flown.
 

XL

Senior member
Jul 23, 2000
839
0
0
Let's all watch the History channel and get the real facts. They have a show called The Blunders of War. ( I think it's called that)But anyway.